


Alternative Frequency

by Tabithian



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Nightwing (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 05:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/744846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred was the one to bring it to his attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternative Frequency

**Author's Note:**

> A.K.A. WKRP in Gotham City, courtesy of secretinternetbox
> 
> This started as a random plot bunny but [thanks to encouragement](http://tabithian.tumblr.com/tagged/Gotham-City-Radio) turned into this. You guys are the best/worst. ;)

Alfred was the one to bring it to his attention. Newspaper waiting for him when he came down for breakfast one morning, folded just so in order for the headline over the story to catch his eye. One of Gotham's oldest radio stations about to be shut down due to lack of revenue, and 

“Pity. I believe that was the station which aired your radio shows when you were younger, Master Bruce.”

Bruce makes a noncommittal noise as he skims the article full of names and dates that held some kind of importance to the station – to _Gotham_. Awards and recognitions the station had earned over the years, a brief listing of the radio shows it had aired over the years. 

Most notably the ones Alfred had mentioned, old radio shows the station had continued to air long past their original air dates late at night after its regular programming ended. 

Comedy shows featuring Abbott and Costello, serials like _Zorro_ , _The Shadow_ and Bruce's favorite, _The Gray Ghost_ , before television came along to replace them. 

He remembers his parents letting him stay up late with them to listen to the old shows even though there was a state of the art entertainment system downstairs. Remembers sitting between his parents and closing his eyes, imagining the story unfolding in his mind, his mother’s perfume and quiet laugh, the low rumble of his father's when he would start to doze off.

“Sir?”

Bruce looks up at Alfred. “I need to talk to Lucius,” he says, and chooses to say nothing about the quietly satisfied look on Alfred's face.

Alfred employed several brands of subtlety, depending on the day and the focus of his schemes. This was just one of them.

Bruce doesn't know what explanation he could possibly give that won't sound inadequate, lacking. (Sentimental.)

“Of course sir,” Alfred says, expression smoothing out. “I'll bring the car around.”

********

Bruce knows absolutely nothing about managing a radio station, and Lucius is little help in the matter.

“Owning a radio station is a big responsibility,” he says, not trying very hard to hide the smile fighting to break free. “It's a big commitment that requires plenty of time and attention, are you sure you're up to that responsibility?”

“Funny, Lucius,” Bruce says, smiling in spite of himself. “It's a radio station, not a pet.”

Lucius _looks_ at him for a moment, and says, “That's what worries me.”

Bruce takes Lucius along with him when the station manager extends an invitation to him after he takes ownership of the station. It's in an old, old building with cracked ceilings and peeling paint. Grungy carpeting and obsolete equipment.

The station employees are wary, if not entirely unfriendly. Plainly concerned at what changes he might bring about, both regarding the station's programming and staffing.

“I'd hate to seem like the kind of person who'd say I told you,” Lucius says, eying the wall of the broadcast studio where the soundproof insulation is coming loose. “But I told you.”

“It's a huge commitment, I know,” Bruce says, wandering over to a framed photograph of Simon Trent standing in front of a promotional poster for _The Gray Ghost_ “But I think it's worth it.”

Lucius sighs, but when Bruce looks at him, there's a small smile on his face.

“All right, let's talk to the manager to see what he has to say about things.”

As it turns out the station manager has a great many thins to say to them, most along the lines of upholding the station's programming integrity.

In the end, they decide to leave the station as it is, if better funded. The renovation takes several months, and the station makes it back into the news the day it goes back on the air under new management.

“It's refreshing to see a spot of good news now and again, wouldn't you say, Master Bruce?”

“Indeed,” Bruce answers, corner of his mouth twitching at the raised eyebrow that nets him.

********

Choosing to remain hands-off regarding the way the radio station is run was perhaps not one of Bruce's best ideas. 

“I'm so sorry, Mr. Wayne,” the station manager tells him, wringing his hands. “I didn't think it would come to this.”

This being the dive time radio show DJ having a spectacular mental breakdown on the air over something Bruce isn't quite sure he understands.

“The good news is, he was pretty incoherent at the end, so it's not likely anyone heard the profanity.”

Bruce doesn't know how to respond to that.

“The bad news is that we're going to have to play music for the rest of the show.”

“Isn't there someone you could call?” Bruce asks, wondering why the manager felt it necessary that Bruce should come down to the station in person. 

The manager shakes his head, “I'm afraid not,” he says.

Bruce nods his understanding, and freezes when he realizes it's too quiet. 

It’s entirely too quiet. 

None of Dick's chatter, commentary on the framed posters on the walls of the old radio shows, award plaques and random post-its from one employee to another.

“Dick? Where are you?” 

Lucius’s lecture regarding Bruce's decision to adopt Dick had been far more in-depth and of a more serious tone, and for good reason. Dick was a good kid, but.

“Hey, Bruce!”

Bruce sees the station manager's mouth drop open and slowly turns to see Dick in the broadcast studio. He has a bright smile on his face and a pair of headphones in his hand. He's seated at the main control board, feet not quite touching the ground. Even from his seat he won't be able to reach all of the board, still too small.

“We could do the show!”

Bruce bites back his initial response – an unequivocal _no_ \- and takes a closer look at Dick.

He's been with Bruce and Alfred for a few months, and they're still feeling one another out. Trying to find a way to keep from inadvertently hitting upon one another's weak spots, to be more than strangers to one anther. 

Admittedly Dick is doing a large portion of the work, more willing, able, to reach out to Bruce than the reverse. 

Bruce sees the smile on Dick's face falter as he fails to respond, hand holding the headphones dropping down to his side, shoulders curling inward slightly.

“I mean, you know,” Dick says, smile fading. “If you wanted to, I thought it might be better than what they were going to do.”

Bruce winces inwardly, aware of the station manager and several administrative staff members watching, of _Dick_ looking at him.

“I'm not sure that would be a good idea,” Bruce says, giving Dick a rueful smile. “I've been told I'm a terrible conversationalist.”

Dick tips his head to the side, trying to interpret Bruce's tone, his words. 

“Only when you want to be,” Dick says, because he's _smart_ and there are times Bruce gets so very tired of being what people expect to see. 

“Really.”

Dick straightens up, lips curving because he's learning to read Bruce faster than he would have expected.

“Really.”

Bruce glances at the station manager, and then back to Dick who's holding the headphones out like a dare, eyebrows raised.

“I suppose we'll see about that, won't we?”

********

Bruce never truly understands just how their radio show becomes so popular.

Alfred just raises an eyebrow and says, “It's quite obvious, Master Bruce.” 

_Why_ is the question.

All they do is discuss their daily lives. Dick takes the lead because Bruce actually wasn't lying when he said he was a terrible conversationalist. It varies, depending on who he's talking to at the time, but. For the most part Bruce just doesn't have much to say.

Dick asks him how his day was when he goes in to the Wayne Enterprises, and Bruce shakes his head, smile playing at the corner of his mouth as he answers.

“Lucius does all the work, I'm just there to exasperate him.”

Dick wrinkles his nose at him because he knows better, and so does Lucius who is giving him a long-suffering look from where he's sitting. 

Gotham, however, doesn't know, and despite the things they talk about on the show, they still don't know everything, which Bruce is more than happy with. Better then underestimate him than not, better to keep the important people in his life safe.

“Is that true, Lucius?” Dick asks.

Lucius sighs, used to Bruce and his methods. “Unfortunately, yes,” he says, making Dick laugh.

Bruce sits back and watches the two of them for a while, Dick asking Lucius about what it is he does for Wayne Enterprises (everything). How he came to be in that position (hard work and determination). 

“Do you have any advice for the listeners, Lucius?”

Lucius thinks about his answer for a moment, lips turning up in a bit of a smirk as he looks right at Bruce.

“My advice? Don't listen to Bruce Wayne when he asks you for a favor, you never know where you'll end up.”

“It's true,” Bruce says, a bit rueful. “Lucius won't be the first one to tell you that.”

********

Bruce donates to various charities and causes in Gotham, but he's not naive to think that's enough. Some of the calls they get are enough to prove that, people who fall through the cracks in the system.

Often times other people will call in with offers to help, advice they can give. Other times it's Dick talks to them off the air, getting their information so that Bruce can use his available resources and contacts.

It can vary from something seemingly small like a set of clothing for a job interview they wouldn't be able to afford on their own, other times it's offering help to find suitable housing. Food, rent. School supplies for their children. A safe place to go at night.

They bring Jim in every other week to talk about his job, numbers people can call if they're in an abusive living situation. Places they can go where no questions will be asked, where they'll be safe.

It never feels like it's enough, that there should be more they can do to help. 

“Let me tell you something,” Jim says to them after a particularly harrowing call. “What I do – what the police do – is never enough. There are people out there I can't help, that I'll never be able to help.”

Bruce's hand tightens on Dick shoulder when he leans back against him seeking comfort.

“The thing that matters,” Jim says, making eye contact with both of them, “is that you're doing your best.”

Small comfort, but honest.

********

Alfred very carefully remains neutral when Dick and Bruce fight.

Bruce is somewhat at a loss, and even Dick seems to feel the same way even as he's yelling at him.

Alfred _hmms_ , a faint smile on his face. “I do wonder why this seems so familiar?”

Bruce scowls at him because he was never this difficult.

“Indeed, sir,” Alfred says, familiar with Bruce's stubbornness. “Forgive me, I must be mistaken. Clearly I was thinking of another young man whose diapers I changed.”

Dick's laughter is strained, the expression on his face more so.

********

Bruce isn't surprised when Dick chooses an out of state school. He is surprised, however, when Dick calls into the show once a week to see how he's doing.

“We had a fight, Bruce,” Dick tells him when the show's over that first day. “It's not like I hate you, you do know that, right?”

Bruce wasn't so sure about that.

“Man, Alfred's right. You really are a dummy.”

True, but - 

“Dick.”

“I miss you too, Bruce, I'll be home for Thanksgiving.”

Bruce isn't sure what he says in response, but it has Dick laughing and that knot of unravels bit by bit as he tells Bruce about his classes and the friends he's making.

********

Without Dick, the show is suffering.

Barbara, who's taken over for the old station manager knows it. The other DJs and radio personalities know it. _Gotham_ knows it.

Even with Dick calling in on a regular basis the show's ratings are dropping. Something needs to be done, but for once Bruce doesn't know what he can do to fix things.

“Master Bruce, you might care to listen to this,” Alfred says, pulling Bruce out of his thoughts.

They're already late getting to the station, traffic stopped due to an accident further along.

“Alfred - “

Alfred turns the radio up and Bruce's eye narrow as he hears a voice that's unfamiliar to him giving advice to a caller. A voice that doesn't belong to the afternoon DJ who is supposed to be on air.

“Look, lady, I've never met the guy but he sounds like a loser. You can do better.”

“What on Earth?”

The caller protests, offering excuses and rationalizations for her husband who had hit her earlier that day.

“Bullshit,” the mystery speaker says, venom in his voice. “Being tired and overworked isn't a reason to lay one goddamned finger on someone else.”

“Oh, my,” Alfred says, looking at Bruce in the rearview mirror.

The FCC is going to love this.

“Alfred.”

Alfred turns the car onto a side road that leads to the station without a word.

********

“He's barricaded himself inside, and we can't get him out of there without damaging the equipment,” Barbara tells him when he storms into the station.

Station staff are crowded around, bickering amongst themselves the best way to get the kid out of the broadcast studio. 

“How did this happen?”

Barbara glances towards Dinah who shrugs, a sheepish smile on her face.

“I went to get a cup of coffee during a commercial break, when I came back short-stuff was inside.” 

Bruce glares at her.

“Yeah,” Dinah snorts. “Like that's going to work on me.”

Bruce ignores Barbara's smirk to look back at the studio. 

The kid inside smirks and tosses off a two finger salute. He's talking about movies now, arguing with a caller about the sins of movie adaptions. Changing and altering a character's origins and story to make it more accessible to a wider audience and how that weakens them as a character.

“The police are on their way,” Barbara says, when Bruce looks at her. Smiles. “My dad's with them.”

Bruce sighs. “Of course he is,” he says. 

Jim's never going to let him live this down.

********

“He tell you why he did it?” Jim asks.

The kid - _Jason_ \- Jason had been tight-lipped with Jim and the other police officers, but hadn't been shy in dealing with Bruce or Barbara.

“He felt the show was lacking.”

Jim gives him a disbelieving look, and rightfully so. What Jason actually said was far more colorful. 

There's a long moment of silence and then a long-suffering sigh from Jim.

“For God's sake, Bruce,” Jim says. “You can't keep him, he has a family.”

Barbra wants Jason for the station, and given the calls they'd gotten once the police had removed him from the studio, so does Gotham.

Bruce _smiles_

“I was thinking more along the lines of borrowing him, actually,” he says.

Jim scowls at him. “You do this on purpose, don't you.”

Not _always_.

********

It takes a while for Bruce and Jason to find a rhythm that works for them, but somehow they manage.

Barbara looks inordinately pleased with herself, as do Dinah and Alfred. Even Dick sounds hopelessly amused with the situation when he calls in to give them both grief.

And Gotham?

Gotham _loves_ Jason.

He's smart and not afraid to say what he thinks especially if someone's being an idiot. They draw in a different audience with him than they had when Dick was on the show. 

People who hear Jason talking about the life he's led until now and realize they have something in common with him. Someone like them who has the voice they don't.

“Part of the reason I took the job,” Jason says with a shrug one day when a caller asks him. He grins at Bruce. “That, and it beat juvie, so.” 

There's more to it, of course, but that's what Jason wants people to know, and Bruce can't really fault him for it.

********

Dick transfers to Gotham University and takes over the evening show that airs after Bruce and Jason's.

“Hey, I love this place,” he says, catching Jason in a headlock. “You didn't think I'd stay away forever, did you?”

Bruce doesn't answer that, but he does say, “I need him for the show.”

“Hey!”

“Don't worry, I'll bring him back in time for you to go on the air!” Dick says, dragging a protesting Jason with him to _bond_.

Bruce sighs and looks over at the newest intern. Tim, if Bruce's memory serves him.

“Is there something you need?”

Tim starts, cheeks flushing, embarrassed top have been caught off guard. “Oh! Um, Barbara wanted you to look these over for approval.”

Bruce takes the folder Tim hands him, and opens it to see several glossy photos for promotional purposes. 

“Thank you. Tim was it?”

Tim nods, smiling slightly. “Yes. Did you need anything?”

Bruce shakes his head, smiles hoping that will set Tim at ease. 

“All right,” Tim says. “Barbara needs an answer by the end of the day.”

Bruce nods, attention on the photos. Mostly candid shots of Dick and Jason and the other station employees. Smiling and laughing at something someone must have said. There are even a few of Bruce looking fondly exasperated at Dick or Jason or more often than not, _both_. 

Bruce remembers seeing Tim going around the station the days the pictures were taken with a camera, but when he looks up to ask if Tim was the photographer, he sees that he's alone in his office.

He frowns, selecting one or two photos that he intends to keep for himself, and makes a note to ask Tim later. Or perhaps Barbara, when he gives her the pictures he's selected.

********

Leaving Barbra in charge of hiring has sometimes been. Interesting, to say the least.

Dinah's morning show draws in a large listening audience, and Cass and Steph's midday show keeps them tuned to the station. The drive time show he co-hosts with Jason pulls in commuters on their way home, and Dick's evening show gets the night owls and night shift.

They still air old radio programs during the overnight show, leaving one of the engineers to monitor the studio equipment.

Interns come and go, and in some cases get their own shows, as with Cass and Steph who started out as interns. Dinah and Barbra liked them enough to bring them onto the morning show with them, and when the midday DJ took a job offer at another station, Barbara asked if they'd like a shot at having their own show. 

“He's not a pet,” Bruce finds himself saying when he walks in on Dick and Jason arguing over who gets to keep Tim.

“I saw him first!” Dick says, and it's at times like these that Bruce has to remind himself that Dick is technically an adult despite his behavior at times.

“Big deal, the kid loves me best!” Jason shoots back, looking as though he's thinking about tackling Dick.

“Um.”

Tim sends Bruce a desperate look.

“This is your own fault,” Bruce says, trying not to smile.

Tim is the one who corrects Jason and Dick when they get something wrong, will argue with them about comics and movies and music. Tell Dick that he's perpetuating an archeological myth when he talks about a subject he'd learned about from one of his classes. Tim's the one who breaks into the drive time show with facts and figures when a caller wants to know more about Wayne Enterprises and the good they do for Gotham and the wider world.

Most of all, though. Tim's the one who put up with all the ridiculous stunts the others have pulled over the years. Going out with a microphone to ask people on the street what their opinions were, taking part in stupid challenges. Wearing a mascot suit when marketing decided they needed one, a black bat with wearing a sandwich board emblazoned with the station's call letters, _WFNJ_. 

The betrayed look on Tim's face is priceless.

“Boys,” Bruce says. “He's coming with me.”

He ignores the groans and grumbling as he places a hand on Tim's shoulder and gently steers him away from the room.

“Thanks,” Tim says, smiling up at him.

Bruce snorts, corner of his mouth twitching.

He doesn't know if Dick and Jason have figured out that Tim was one of their regular callers before he took the internship at the station. Tim doesn't seem inclined to tell anyone, and it's not Bruce's place to reveal that information, but it is a source of regular amusement.

“I find that getting Alfred or Barbara on your side against them is immensely helpful,” he says, smile widening a touch at the laugh that escapes Tim.

********

When Jason goes to college his new schedule doesn't allow him time to do the show with Bruce as often. He teams up with Dick and all but shoves Tim at him.

“Face it, the show sucks when it's just you,” Jason says, unapologetic. “Tim will keep you from failing miserably.”

“Thank you for your overwhelming concern” Bruce says dryly.

“Jay's right,” Dick adds, arm around Tim's shoulder. “Timmy's just what the show needs.”

Tim doesn't look that convinced, but he agrees when Bruce asks if that's what he wants.

Possibly a mistake on Tim's part when Jason makes a surprise visit a few months later. He comes bearing a recording of a call Tim had made to the station under a fake name before he'd taken an internship there, clearly having figured it out.

Jason and Dick are grinning at Tim as he buries his face in his hands. It's his birthday, as Dick and Jason are happy to remind him over and over again, delighting in watching Tim blush and stammer, unused to being the center of attention, 

The phones light up as the recording continues to play, Tim arguing with Jason over the web shooters in the Spider-man reboot movie. Bruce is trying not to smile, but it's a lost cause when the argument turns to shouting.

He remembers that day, years ago. The way Jason had fumed for hours afterward, promising to find the kid who kept tripping him up and set him straight if it was the last thing he ever did.

“Happy birthday, Timmy,” Jason says, poking Tim in the shoulder.

“I hate you,” Tim says, but he sounds fondly exasperated the way Bruce often feels with dealing with Dick and Jason. “So much.”

********

Bruce is at a loss when Talia sends Damian to him.

He's so young and so angry. Closed off, snappish.

Dick and the others don't quite know what to make of him at first, and it's _Tim_ who comes to Bruce. Smile note quite sitting right on his face.

“Dick and Jason keep borrowing me for their show anyway,” he says. “You should bring Damian on with you.”

Dick had snapped Jason up when his schedule cleared up, and they've been hinting that they intended to steal Tim from Bruce for a while now.

Tim's applied for several colleges, and it's only a matter of time until he leaves for school. He sees this, Damian coming along now, as a good transition point for the show, the station. 

“Tim - “

“I'll still be here,” Tim says, like Bruce is being deliberately dense. “You know you're never getting rid of us, right?”

Bruce sighs, unable to find the words he needs. Tim somehow always does this to him, more so than Dick and Jason ever did.

But Dick came back, and so did Jason. He's going to have to trust that Tim will as well.

********

The first few shows with Damian are awkward and stilted, _horrible_. 

Bruce doesn't know what to do, how to reach out to Damian. His attempts are met with suspicion, wariness.

And then the others get involved.

Dinah borrows him for her morning show, pretending ignorance as to how the boards work to get him to grumble at her as he helps her operate them. Steph and Cass drag Damian along with them when they go to station events, getting him to participate in dance challenges and charity sports games. Dick and Jason call in during the show to rile Damian up. 

When Tim has the time he stops by the station to back Damian up against the two of them, pretending he doesn't see the way Damian watches him. As though Tim's not necessarily an ally, but also not an opponent. 

Damian slowly starts to open up, willing to talk about Titus, the dog Bruce bought for him when he didn't know what else to do. The kitten he's named after Alfred and the cow they've somehow adopted.

He approaches Bruce about having a segment on the show with humane society volunteers, bringing in a pet each week in need of adoption in the hopes that better visibility will help. 

Damian starts to trust Bruce, the others. Stops looking at them as antagonists, adversaries. 

He bickers with all of them, Dinah, Steph, Cass and Jason. Lets Dick give him hugs even though he looks as though it's the last thing in the world he wants. Makes unannounced appearances on Dick and Jason's show and sides with Tim against them, presenting a united front. 

Damian smiles more often, and seems happier than he was when he first came to Gotham to live with him. 

“What were you expecting?” Dick asks, giving Bruce a fondly exasperated look. “We look out for one another, it's what family does.”

They’re getting ready for the station's anniversary party to celebrate seventy-five years of being on the air. Barbara's coordinating with the others, Jason and Tim helping set up the tables while Steph and Cass strong-arm Damian into helping with the decorations. Dinah's picking the cake up from the bakery with Alfred, and Dick is wrangling Bruce the way he always does.

“Is that what this is?” Bruce replies, smiling slightly. “I'd wondered about that.”

Dick rolls his eyes and gives Bruce a gentle push towards the others.

“Well, that or prime candidates for Arkham. Either way works.”


End file.
